Abbeydale Direct is a family-owned business based in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, which has over 20 years of mail order experience. With strong roots in agriculture, their experience has led them to become a leading supplier in all things country-related, from technical equipment to high quality farming disposables. Their goals are to offer consistently high-quality products and excellent customer service, combined with exceptional value.
Abbeydale Direct took the decision to implement SAP Business One after struggling with the limitations of their previous software. They wanted more than just an accounting package as they were unable to interrogate their data to accurately determine sales figures and profit margins or identify changes in customer ordering patterns. Having grown significantly throughout the early part of the 2010s, they found that their previous software was providing more limitations than benefits, and they wanted to find a solution that would support their growth for the long-term.
Part of the reason Abbeydale Direct wanted to select an SAP product was that they really liked the partner model, and the support and confidence this approach offered. They actually implemented SAP Business One 18 months before they started working with Ascarii and say that they can’t emphasise enough how important it is to work with the right partner. The right partner is just as important as the decision to use SAP Business One.
According to David Brownsey, Commercial Director, “when we met with Ascarii, we were massively impressed with how proactive they are. We were in a position where we were not aware of the full capabilities of SAP Business One. Ascarii showed us how it can revolutionise our business and showed us the opportunities available through analysis tools, automation and time saving methods. Their team showed a genuine interest in understanding our working processes and seeing our business succeed. A key point that separates SAP from other providers is the partner approach. Working with the right SAP partner makes every aspect of running a business so much easier.”
David continues, “Ascarii works with us as though they are an extension of our team and that working relationship gives us the confidence to include them in any key decisions that we make. It’s like having an in-house SAP team working in the next office. Accessing SAP Business One on Ascarii's AWS cloud platform has proven to be invaluable this year. When the UK was put into lockdown, all of our staff were able to work from home the very next day, without a single interruption to our operations.”
Abbeydale Direct have found a number of key benefits from using SAP Business One but, surprisingly for them, the biggest benefits were ones they hadn’t even considered initially. While it was chosen for its capability with reporting and analysis, they have found that the more they integrated SAP Business One into their company, the better it has become for them. They particularly like its processes and workflows that act almost like a handbook to follow, giving them a logical order to their documents and their relationships with other documents. This means that any inevitable exceptions that would normally take hours to unpick, can be addressed in a matter of seconds, providing exceptional traceability. David says, “the amount you can do with data in SAP is really only limited by your imagination.”
Other key benefits are the flexibilities of SAP Business One. By allowing it to work with third parties, there are a host of add-ons available that can do anything from turning SAP Business One into an e-commerce platform, to automating invoicing, payment runs and purchasing. They also use a very customised set-up in SAP to operate the till system within their retail outlet. With a desktop touch screen and cash drawer running SAP Business One, they are able to keep accurate stock figures and instant payment reconciliation against shop sales.
Abbeydale Direct has also been able to integrate SAP Business One with a series of new e-commerce websites they are developing, to the extent that the first action that a team member has with a customer’s order is picking it from the shelf in the warehouse. All processes up to the point of picking and packing are automated, including order input, stock allocation, payment reconciliation and delivery information. This has resulted in days of man hours being saved each week by various members of the team, allowing them to focus on sales opportunities and marketing. David says, “SAP Business One essentially allows our company to run itself.”
He continues, “one of the things that is a massive help is the way in which SAP presents related documents. The ability to view every document associated with a single sales order, delivery note, purchase order, or otherwise, has huge value when providing customers with accurate information. Being able to respond to a customer’s query with accurate information within a matter of seconds has been a huge help. The most impressive thing is that we chose SAP Business One because it appeared seamless and comprehensive. The real benefits are the ones that you discover after deciding to implement SAP.”
Abbeydale Direct now has far greater business efficiencies in place. Their warehouse team is able to perform rolling stock takes routinely, without causing disruption, and they can process more sales than ever before, without the need for recruitment. David says, “the level of automation that SAP Business One has provided for us will now allow us to double our turnover while keeping our overheads fixed.”
Looking to the future, Abbeydale Direct has massive growth ambitions that they wouldn’t have been able to put in place without moving to SAP Business One and Ascarii. It is helping to open up new markets for them and will support them to grow internationally. According to David, “Ascarii and SAP have taken our business from small thinking to making all things not only possible, but a reality.”